Jay Posted July 15, 2006 Report Share Posted July 15, 2006 Watch this space, I got a pair of western boots to re-welt over the next two weeks, I'll take some pix to post up with a talk-through if I have time Super man already covered it, look in the standards topic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironplanet uk900 Posted July 15, 2006 Report Share Posted July 15, 2006 just like to add, a bit to this interesting thread, ive been mending shoes etc since ,i was 16, years old ,i am now, 38, i have worked for big companys british shoe corporation, when it was still here, years ago, a multiple company.....not timpsons,and now a family run buisness, for the last 12 years,i really love doing what i do, i also have arthritus and chrohns disease, ive never lost faith in what i do, or the way i feel, ive met some great people, and become good freinds with customers,but ive never met a shoe repairer, who does not have a dig at another persons work,or standard of work, i personally beliave the most important person who ,must b happy with youre work, is youre customer, and no one else, we all can learn, no matter what age.and i certanly dont no it all, but the one thing all shoe repairers should learn , is to concerntrate on there customers, and c what there opinion is of youre work.if there happy,and success is when they return...with more work, i always pop into every shoe repairers, to have a look and if poss to speak to the guy in the shop, im not there to judge, just to look and admire, and get ideas.....ive met the son, of the owner of timpsons, at a exebition at whickstead park, a few years ago, i didnt, have to kiss his ass, cus i did not want a job, or he was not my boss, but what a very curtious and polite man, and even though we only exchanged small talk.........this sought of attitude can only b good for the industry.............i also no, Ted addler of essex shoe repairs, who he may be the boss of this company, but this is one man who has never lost touch with reality, a very kind and concederate man, and when i first became ill, when i was 20, and was off work for a long time months and months and had just tacken on my first morgage, this man stood buy me , and paid my morgage without question. or comeback, untill i was well enough to return, i did leave his company 6 years later, but this was only due to personal reasons, with these sort of people in our industry we, can all only go from strenght to strength, as i stated before, I LOVE WHAT I DO, and i may not be the best, and will never claim to be, but most OF ALL I THANK GOD ,THAT I CAN GET UP EVEY MORNING AND GO TO WORK AND DO SOMETHING I LOVE GET PAID, AND COME HOME TO MY WIFE AND DAUGHTER EACH DAY.................................THATS JOB SATISFACTION....... MY FAMILY. PS..........................ALL THE BEST REPAIRERS GO TO HEAVON FIRST.AND SADDLY AS IVE GOT OLDER AND GREYER IM SURE,WE ALL NO FELLOW REPAIRERS,UP THERE BEFORE US..............BUT WE WILL ALL GET THERE ONE DAY. Just read this post, Made me feel quite humble, Everybody is different, shy,brash, confident etc... I personally wouldn't name and shame an individual.. But I would talk about a bad job they were doing, And say how it should be done, In my opinion. If you've got no opinion theres no comment, no forum. Theres nothing wrong with that, thats what gets us talking on this forum. It's the same on most forums. Some people are humble about there good work, and some people are loud and proud. Individuality, thats what makes the world go round. Great post K@lsb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Posted July 15, 2006 Report Share Posted July 15, 2006 Watch this space, I got a pair of western boots to re-welt over the next two weeks, I'll take some pix to post up with a talk-through if I have time Super man already covered it, look in the standards topic. click on the link. http://www.shoerepairer.info/bb/viewtop ... 7&start=20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Posted July 15, 2006 Report Share Posted July 15, 2006 I thought it was 600 but 7oo may be nearer the point as there are 100 minit shops they aint found yet Qupte from uk900. Most, not all are capable of a descent job but fail to because they can't be bothered. I would not be so generous as to say most. They do have the top half dozen or so but 60%/70% are probably struggling to make a decent job of a through sole. Very good with customers though and if trained to their capabilities would make 1st class Independants. It aint due to not being bothered, it is down to pressure to serve as many as possible in the shortest space of time for the maximum profit. I know from insider leaks that they were poised to make the most of the so called "Remedial" work, contracts, zips, gusssets, ski-hooks, studs etc, etc for when stilettos vanished, this was 2 years ago. All the work put into place has been frittered away and the tooling/stock is not available in 75% of the branches. It is obvious to me as a shopper that the skill is being developed to sell, almost to the extent of pressure selling at the expence of hands on training. You say they are good with customers, I must say I disagree My missus and I travell alot in the summer around the country in our motor home. I always pop in a Mr Ts if I see one, and to be honest it is very rare you get to speak to a polite enthusiastic operater. Most of them seem very unwilling to do shoe repairs while you wait. One guy who was talking to friend when we walked in. told us " if you bring them in in the morning you can collect them towards the end of the day" it was only a pair of heels I think there shops look great, and thats why they are successful. Imagine how succesfull they'd be if they were all as good as me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kobblers Posted July 15, 2006 Report Share Posted July 15, 2006 i've already seen that post is7000, thanks anyway but i was hoping for something more in depth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray T. Posted March 2, 2008 Report Share Posted March 2, 2008 Hi Guys I know this is a old topic here but I am new to this site and its all fresh to me.First off I don't want to reopen any wounds here because I don't know any of the people or players your talking about and besides that its not the issue.I just want to ask about the blaking of welted shoes.If blaking is the same as McKaying then your telling me your stitching through a welted shoes insole.Well thats not only bad craftsmanship but just wrong period.I went threw just the opposite problem many years back when I didn't own a McKay stitcher.Well when they started coming in I had to think of something so this is what I did.I prepared my shoe and sole like I would normally then I would lightly glue it in a few areas just enough so I could cut the almost final shape that I would need.I would then take it off and go to the curved needle stitcher and take the thread off so when I stitched just the sole by itself it made my channel and holes for me.I would then re-glue the right way and sew the sole by hand.The finished job was a human McKay job but it was done right.It didn't take too long before I broke down ,both in my wallet and sore hands that I got a McKay. Ray Torcaso Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh-Candoit (ENG) Posted March 2, 2008 Report Share Posted March 2, 2008 Tell you what I once did to win a competition. The job entailed through sole blaked. Not being able to acheive 100% stitch perfection I trimmed the leather soles to shape, grooved them,pulled them of tthe shoes then stitched them on a goodyear. Stuck the soles back on and put a thin Leather sock over the old stitches inside the shoes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray T. Posted March 2, 2008 Report Share Posted March 2, 2008 Hugh Isn't that the way I just described? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh-Candoit (ENG) Posted March 2, 2008 Report Share Posted March 2, 2008 Not quite Ray, You hand stitched the sole to the shoe using the holes created for you. I stitched the sole off the shoe then just glued it on already stitched, but not stitched to the shoe. but it did appear to be stitched to the shoe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironplanet uk900 Posted March 2, 2008 Report Share Posted March 2, 2008 Tell you what I once did to win a competition.The job entailed through sole blaked. Not being able to acheive 100% stitch perfection I trimmed the leather soles to shape, grooved them,pulled them of tthe shoes then stitched them on a goodyear. Stuck the soles back on and put a thin Leather sock over the old stitches inside the shoes. And that fooled the judges, and won you the competition. That tells me alot about the judging. The job that won, would have fallen apart the first time they were worn. Why couldn't you have done the blaking 100% Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh-Candoit (ENG) Posted March 2, 2008 Report Share Posted March 2, 2008 It happened about 20 years ago when the judges were not as astute as they are now. Blaking is not as precise as Outsoling. As there was 4 thousand pounds at stake you take whatever measures are needed to get in there with the winners. And yes I did win. And yes the soles may have fallen off in wear though I doubt it as they were my own shoes used just for competitions. They would not have won in todays competitions planet, for 1 there are not the 4 categories that were in existance in them days Even so they had to be bloody good to fool a panel of top repairers. As far as rules are concerned, they are there to be exploited, my mentor taught me all the tricks, Knighted for services to skullduggery his name was "Sir Cumnavigate" (Internet speed is diabolical tonight, will have to say Sianara untill Monday) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray T. Posted March 3, 2008 Report Share Posted March 3, 2008 HI Hugh I see what you are saying and I have to agree with planet that they would never hold up under normal wear.Now that I understand what you did ,I want to know how you would of tied the fake stitching in at the waist so it would run even with the rest? Ray Torcaso Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironplanet uk900 Posted March 3, 2008 Report Share Posted March 3, 2008 Blaking is not as precise as Outsoling. Whys that then, it certainly looks different, So how you got away with it, god knows. Blaking should be just as neat as outsoling. And I thought repairers were better in those days, so why was the judging rubbish. Well somebody's got to ask these questions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithm Posted March 3, 2008 Report Share Posted March 3, 2008 Nice stitching, shame about the grooving WELL SOMEONE'S GOT TO ASK THESE QUESTIONS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironplanet uk900 Posted March 3, 2008 Report Share Posted March 3, 2008 Nice stitching, shame about the grooving WELL SOMEONE'S GOT TO ASK THESE QUESTIONS I see nothing wrong with it. Apart from it being done on a piece of scrap crappy fleshy leather The idea was to show that blaking is just as good as outsoling. "Examine what is said, not him who speaks." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh-Candoit (ENG) Posted March 3, 2008 Report Share Posted March 3, 2008 I agree Planetuk900 that your sample is good in both stitch types but some stitchers aint up to doing a perfect job like yours. Secondly you can tell the difference with your sample, I adjusted the Goodyear stitch to match the required lenght of Blake stitck. Third. The judges were not as clever at finding the method as the bloke doing the shoe comp was at disguising it. Fouth. Who in gods name Blakes accross the waist area??? Ray, please tell me you dont do this. It's almost as bad as Planetuk900s pet hate of rivetting the waist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironplanet uk900 Posted March 3, 2008 Report Share Posted March 3, 2008 I agree Planetuk900 that your sample is good in both stitch types but some stitchers aint up to doing a perfect job like yours. I agree there too, but Its a bad tradesman that blames his tools, Would be better to have the machine repaired, otherwise all your blaking work would be dodgy. Third. The judges were not as clever at finding the method as the bloke doing the shoe comp was at disguising it. They would have only needed to have pushed the upper to one side to reveil the stitches. Anyway what sort of farce is a competition on a blaked on repair when the judges can't tell the difference I'm not getting at you Hugh, but you must admit with all the high tech techniques that are tossed around this section. that what you are saying makes a mockery of shoe repair competitions, If they are judged by folk with no apparent knowledge of what they are looking for. To put it bluntly....you made fools out of the fools Fouth. Who in gods name Blakes accross the waist area??? Who does this....have I missed summat here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petercoulson Posted March 3, 2008 Report Share Posted March 3, 2008 wow, amazing, i cant believe it, you spelt blaking and out soling correctly. and in big letters as well. nice stitching though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray T. Posted March 4, 2008 Report Share Posted March 4, 2008 Hugh Are you on crack? I am going to say it in my English and not the UK terms as maybe thats my problem.I did not mean across the shank(waist) but wear your splice would have met up to the old sole from the shank back to the breast of the heel. Hope I have made myself clearer.By the way if I ever would even think about sewing across the shank or nailing for that matter I would be the first to pack it in and find something that I could be better at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter / Sweden Posted March 4, 2008 Report Share Posted March 4, 2008 HughAre you on crack? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petercoulson Posted March 4, 2008 Report Share Posted March 4, 2008 ray, i think you will it isnt crack but a closely related medicine that hugh is on . he takes so many Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithm Posted March 4, 2008 Report Share Posted March 4, 2008 I 'eard he was still sniffin Glue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Posted March 4, 2008 Report Share Posted March 4, 2008 HughAre you on crack? Best sentence ever written award goes to Ray T. Lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest k@lsb Posted March 4, 2008 Report Share Posted March 4, 2008 can anyone do another bit of leather like the one above,my daughter needs new blinkers for her horse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now